The countdown to Florida State's season is heading into its final stretch.

The Seminoles are one month away from the start of fall camp with FSU head coach Willie Taggart attempting to lead the program back into the national spotlight.

Taggart is going to have his hands full this season with a brutal schedule that is ranked as one of the Top-3 toughest schedules in college football by nearly every pundit.

If the Seminoles are going to be successful the players are going to have to step up and deliver.

Democrat sports writers Wayne McGahee III and Curt Weiler continue their countdown of the 30 most important players on FSU's roster for the 2018 season at No. 29.

Wayne: Redshirt freshman running back Khalan Laborn

Buy Photo

FSU running back Khalan Laborn(Photo: Wayne McGahee III/Democrat)

This spot is way too low for Laborn as far as how much talent he has, but it also takes into account the talent at the running back position ahead of him as well as what's behind him.

The running back position at FSU is absolutely stacked with sophomore Cam Akers, senior Jacques Patrick, junior Amir Rasul, redshirt freshman Zaquandre White, and freshman Anthony Grant in addition to Laborn, but that doesn't mean he won't see the field.

Laborn should have a significant impact for the FSU offense this season if he can build on what he was able to do this spring and in the spring game.

He had 140 yards on just 13 carries with two touchdowns during the spring game, including a 91-yard scamper where he ran through a couple of arm tackles and then outran the defense to the end zone.

Interested in this topic? You may also want to view these photo galleries:

The former five-star running back from Virginia Beach (Va.) is still behind Akers and Patrick on the depth chart heading into fall camp, but he fits in very well with the offense as a dual-threat player.

He's very adept at catching the ball out of the backfield, and has big play ability in the running game as demonstrated by his spring game performance.

Laborn's earned himself some playing time this year after redshirting in 2017 under the old regime, and will be an asset to the FSU offense.

It was unclear whether he fit more as an inside linebacker or outside edge-rushing linebacker in Charles Kelly’s defensive scheme and he was lost in the shuffle, buried behind veteran Jacob Pugh on the outside at the Sam linebacker position.

When he got a chance to play on defense, Brown made the most of it. The game that stands out is last year’s win at Wake Forest. Brown played just four snaps, but recorded two tackles against the Demon Deacons.

With so many veterans ahead of him, however, Brown was relegated mostly to special teams duty in his first two seasons.

Now, in a new defensive scheme that uses all linebackers in the same way, Brown has expressed gratitude at a fresh chance for proving himself worthy of playing time.

Brown – along with fellow juniors Dontavious Jackson and Emmett Rice – are all of a sudden the longest-tenured linebackers on FSU’s roster.

In a group that will be forced to replace Matthew Thomas, Ro’Derrick Hoskins and Pugh -- all of whom graduated after the 2017 season – the arrival of a new coaching staff and defensive scheme could not be more well timed for Brown.